“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 19:2)

Jehoshaphat was a godly king of Judah who faithfully served the Lord, but he made the tragic mistake of forming an alliance with ungodly king Ahab of Israel in fighting against their common enemy Syria. After all, he reasoned, they were “brothers,” both descended from Abraham, so they could join together in battling the Syrians.

As a result, although God continued to bless Jehoshaphat during his lifetime, this compromise eventually resulted in great tragedy in his family when his son and successor, Jehoram, married Ahab’s wicked daughter Athaliah and then slew all his own brothers, and soon he himself died of a loathsome disease (2 Chronicles 21:4, 6, 19).

The road of compromise eventually ends in a precipice, especially in matters regarding the integrity of God’s Word and His saving gospel. The timeless principle for Christians today is given in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? . . . or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

This warning and command is at least as greatly needed today as it was in Paul’s day. Spiritual, moral, and religious compromise seem to be endemic in the Christian realm today, in both doctrine and practice, and God would warn us that tragedy is imminent in the generation of our children, if not before.

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:17). HMM